Category: Authors

Huston Continues His Streak

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Charlie Huston just keeps hitting homeruns.

No, he’s not a baseball player. Huston’s a writer. And a very good one. I told you about how much I enjoyed Huston’s writing HERE. Now he’s back with his second Joe Pitt novel called No Dominion. It’s even better than Already Dead [and you know how much I liked it]!
So who is Joe Pitt? Let’s let Huston tell you in his own words:
Joe is a kind of a detective. Kind of. In the same way he’s kind of alive. Duck around the issue as long as you want, sooner or later it’s gonna bite you. See, Joe’s a vampire. Yeah, a blood sucker. But not in the usual way, least not in the way you’re thinking from the books and the movies. Joe’s got a sickness, same sickness a lot of other poor slobs got. And all of them are creeping around Manhattan, trying to stay out of the public eye, out of the sun. Got themselves organized into Clans, each one laying claim to some turf. Wanna stay alive, gotta be with a Clan. Except Joe. He doesn’t hold with that way of life. That way is no life at all as far as he’s concerned. Ha, life, that’s funny. Sort of.
At any rate, after you check out Joe Pitt, you might want to try Huston’s Hank Thompson trilogy. [You should start with Caught Stealing, then Six Bad Things, and finish with A Dangerous Man.] They’re as good as the Joe Pitt books. And it doesn’t get much better than that!

King Loves Huston

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One of the cool things about running the ZONE is getting to be one of the first to tell you about cool movies, comics, tv shows, artists and authors.

I’ve been talking up Charlie Huston since his first novel, Caught Stealing. I selected him as my favorite author of 2006 HERE. Guess who else is a Charlie Huston fan. Stephen King!
Stephen King said this about Charlie Huston in a recent interview: “When you came in we were talking about Charlie Huston, this guy who has written a trilogy. One’s called Caught Stealing and one’s called Six Bad Things and the last one, which I’m reading now, is called The Dangerous Man. I feel the same way…” …you don’t want the series to end.

Just another example of ZONErs being ahead of the pack!

Already Dead Gets New Life

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Remember when I first told you here about how much I enjoyed Charlie Huston’s writing? And then here when I wrote that Huston placed 2 books in my top five for 2006? [Actually it was 4 out of the top 7, if you want to get technical about it.]

Anyway, seems like I’m not the only one enjoying Huston’s work. Already Dead has been optioned for a potential movie franchise. 

Just another example of ZONErs being ahead of the crowd!

Root for the Bad Guy… Again

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“Payback” is one of my favorite Mel Gibson films. Based on the novel by Richard Stark, it’s a worthy adaptation of a crime classic. The story behind the making of the movie is almost as interesting.

Screenwriter, Brian Helgeland, hot of the success of “LA Confidential” wanted to direct. Pairing him with Mel Gibson on “Payback” seemed a natural. Things went well until late into filming when either Gibson, the studio or both decided that Gibson’s character needed to be more likeable and the film needed more action.

Helgeland disagreed. Guess who won out?

Yep, Gibson and the studio. So Mel went behind the camera and filmed some additional scenes and the tone of the movie changed.

As I said, “Payback” is one of my favorite Mel Gibson movies… but I always thought it would be cool to see Brian Helgeland’s vision. Perhaps, it too, would be one of my favorites.

According to Harry at Ain’t It Cool News, we’ll soon find out! “Payback: Straight Up – The Director’s Cut” is comming out in a few months. And unlike some “director’s cuts” where a few minutes of footage [that wasn’t good enough to make the original release!] is added, this is going to be a complete overhaul. It will be Helgeland’s vision .

And I can’t wait to see it!

A Dangerous Man

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Tomorrow, the third [and last] book in Charlie Huston‘s Hank Thompson trilogy [Caught Stealing; Six Bad Things; A Dangerous Man] becomes available. And while I can’t wait to read it, I am sad that the series will come to an end. I do applaud Huston for having the integrity to say, the story has been told and that’s that. Still, the fan in me hopes that if Hank’s still alive at the end of A Dangerous Man, there may be more story to tell.I’m also looking forward to the second book in Huston’s Joe Pitt series, No Dominion. It’ll be out this December.

Vampires, Anyone?

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I’ve been into vampires lately. Remember back here when I told you about the new Blade comic series that Howard Chaykin was going to draw? 

I’m currently reading Underland by Mick Farren. It’s got modern day vampires, as well as modern day Nazis, conspiracy theories, UFO’s and more. I’m digging it and am only about 1/2 way through.

Before Underland I read Already Dead by Charlie Huston. Huston has quickly become one of my favorite writers. Already Dead also features a modern day vampire, uh vampyre. As much as I’m enjoying Underland, Already Dead is even better. It combines The Godfather, Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane and the end result is pure Charlie Huston. I highly recommend this one!Okay… enough about me and vampires. I’d write more but I’m off to watch the latest episode of Blade.

RIP Mickey Spillane

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Mickey Spillane died yesterday. He was 88 years old and had cancer, so the news shouldn’t come as quite a shock. It’s just that Mickey Spillane was one of those guys that seemed like he could live forever.

Although Mr. Spillane started his career as a comic book writer, it was his Mike Hammer novels that made him a superstar. The first, “I, the Jury” was a hit with readers everywhere, critics be damned. Spillane followed up with 12 other Mike Hammer books… 9 other novels… and a bunch of short stories. Most folks don’t realize that Mr. Spillane also wrote two young adult novels [one which won a prize from the Junior Literary Guild].

As much as I enjoyed Spillane‘s books, I liked his attitude even more. He considered himself a writer, not an author. Spillane was more concerned with royalty checks than reviews… and his fans dearly loved him.

I miss him already.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mickey Spillane‘s family, friends and fans.

Long Live the King… Or Off With His Head?

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There was a time when I loved all things Stephen King. It started with Carrie which I read in 8th grade. I thought it was a really cool book. When I was a junior in high school I saw Carrie at a Midnight Movie. I loved it. It was my introduction to Brian DePalma. I still laugh when I think that I nearly jumped into the next row when Carrie‘s bloody hand came shooting out of the grave.

In college I got into King in a big way. I was reading everything that he published. The Shinning [great book — I read it in a single night! and a pretty scary movie], Salem’s Lot [another excellent novel with a cool, modern twist on vampires — and a decent tv mini-series] The Dead Zone [perhaps the best movie adaptation of a King novel] … and the hits just kept on coming [although the movies weren’t always as good]… The Stand, Cujo, Pet Sematary, Firestarter, Christine, It, etc. etc. etc.

Then for some reason, I stopped reading King. I really don’t know why. It just happened. I have a bunch of his novels and even some short story collections sitting on the shelf waiting to join the other King novels in a place of honor on my bookcase. But there they sit.

I did buy and immediately read Cell when it came out in hardcover. I was hoping for a more traditional zombie story, but never the less, I did really enjoy it.

Tomorrow night ABC is presenting a three hour adaptation of Desperation. For some reason, I’m really looking forward to it. Most likely I’ll record it for viewing some late weekend night. I haven’t read the book, but if the movie is works, perhaps it’ll give me just enough reason to pull it off the shelf and see if the novel is good enough to make it to the book case.

Charlie Huston – We Have a Problem!

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I discovered Charlie Huston‘s work a month ago when I read his first novel, Caught Stealing. Last night I finished Huston‘s second novel, Six Bad Things. Both books are among the best that I’ve read in the last year and both tell the tale of Hank Thompson.

Ten years ago Hank was a hot prospect to play some college baseball. A broken leg and some bad choices killed any shot of college ball and so Hank drifted up to New York where he found work as a bartender.

Things were going smoothly untl one night when two guys pulled him over the bar and beat him nearly to death. The next thing Hank knew he was on the run from the Russian mob, two Black cowboys, and a dirty cop. If Hank can figure out what’s going on, he just might get out of this alive and with some of the $4.5 million that everyone thinks that he has!

On the strength of Caught Stealing, Charlie Huston jumped onto my “Author’s to Watch for List.” Seeing that Six Bad Things was just as good, he’s now on my “Buy It Now List.”

I’m putting in my pre-order for the final book in the Hank Thompson trilogy, A Dangerous Man, and also ordering Already Dead, Huston‘s novel about a detective who happens to be a vampire!

That means that I’ll have all of his novels. He’s just going to have to start writing faster.

Soloman & Hunter… Now Thorn

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James Byron Huggins is one of my favorite authors. I’ve enjoyed every book that I’ve read by him, and two [Cain and Hunter] are all-time favorites. In fact, I’ve always wished that Huggins would do a sequel teaming the two heroes, Soloman and Hunter, in a new adventure.

Although Sorcerer, Huggins‘ latest novel, doesn’t bring back either Soloman or Hunter, it does introduce us to a new hero, Michael Thorn. Thorn is an ex-cop, ex-Airborne Ranger who, at 45, has opted for early retirement after seeing more than enough action in the military and as a decorated detective. Thorne, his wife, and two children move to a remote New England town where they buy a house in the country.

Any hope for a peaceful retirement is gone when Thorn discovers a hidden room in his basement. In the room he finds a skeleton chained to the wall. The manacles are engraved with an ancient writing. When the skeleton disappears and people start turning up dead, Thorn suddenly finds himself allies with Assassini sent from Rome to do battle with the ancient evil that has returned from the grave!

Huggins has the ability to make a story move, but never at the expense of character development. He also has the talent to make the unbelievable believable. I must admit that before reading the book,. I was worried that the villain would be some kind of wizard like in Harry Potter or King Arthur. Boy, was I wrong. This sorcerer is an ancient evil who dared to challenge Moses himself!

I thoroughly enjoyed Sorcerer and wouldn’t mind a sequel. Hmmm… maybe Thorn could team with Soloman and Hunter on a new adventure?

Blue Belle Scores Two

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While thinking about some of my favorite comic book covers yesterday, my mind switched gears and began to ponder about some of the covers to novels that I also love.

The first one that came to mind was the art on the hardcover to Andrew Vachss‘ Blue Belle. The jacket design is by Carol Devine Carson and the photograph is by William King.

This was the first Andrew Vachss novel that I ever read and of course he quickly became one of my favorite authors. I don’t know what it is about the cover that I love so much. Maybe it’s the noir-mystery vibe that it gives off. My guess is the cover would still be a favorite even if the novel wasn’t.

How ‘Bout Some Free Cell?

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Remember last week when I was telling you about how cool Stephen King‘s new novel, Cell, sounded? [If not click you can click HERE.]

Anyway, if you think that Cell is something that you MAY like, then you might want to pick up the current issue of Entertainment Weekly [the 2006 Preview issue]. It features the first two chapters of Cell with some cool illustrations by Tomer Hanuka.

My guess is if you’re interested enough to read this far, you’re going to love the novel.

Marvel Scores Two

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Stephen King is teaming with Marvel Comics to create new adventures for characters from his best selling Dark Tower series. Jae Lee will illustrate the six issue limited series that will premiere in April 2006 and then be collected in a hardcover edition in time for the holidays. 

In related news, best selling author, David Morrell has signed with Marvel to write his first comic story. Morrell will take Captain America to Afghanistan… or will he?

Morrell is best known for creating Rambo, but he’s truly an author that doesn’t limit himself. He refuses to be pigeon-holed in one genre. Morrell has a “complex body of work that traverses the Horror, Espionage and Thriller genres” and his writing has been well-received in all of them. I have no doubt that his work in comics will as well.

There haven’t been many Marvel comics that I’ve read in recent years. I’ll definitely be checking King and Morrell‘s work though. I’ll bet that a lot of other comic fans… and more importantly, folks who don’t normally read comics will too.

Like Cheap Whiskey, Very Nasty and Satisfying

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Today while surfing the net I came across a couple of items that should interest most ZONErs.

The first is that several authors [including Stephen King, John Grisham, Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman, Lemony Snicket, Michael Chabon and others] are participating in an auction for charity where the winning bidders will get to name a character in each author’s novel. How cool is that?

The second item of interest is directly related to the first, in that Stephen King‘s participation in the auction involves a new novel titled Cell. King describes Cell as “a violent piece of work, which comes complete with zombies set in motion by bad cell phone signals that destroy the human brain. Like cheap whiskey, it’s very nasty and extremely satisfying.” Stephen King and zombies! Count me in.

And come to think of it… maybe I should take a shot at the auction as well. A zombie named “Big Beatty” is just too cool not to give it a go.